Rough and ready

This recent rough and colorful necklace from Enkhe Tserenbadam blends bright blue beads with rich gold nuggets. The irregular shapes are so pitted that they appear smooth and soft. The effect is both organic and other-worldly.

Enkhe has been playing with a number of designs infused with energy and ready to move in new directions. Born in Mongolia and now living in Switzerland, she has already come a long way. Browse through her small vessels and jewelry to see where she’s headed. She’s on Facebook, Instagram and her own site.

Gold rush

Pennsylvania’s Staci Louise Smith created these latest crackled, rustic beads in a big hurry when she was asked to prepare an online course for CraftArtEdu.

Rather than carefully consider all that might be required, Staci said yes and jumped in. The result is gold…in a rush. Gold Rush!

She talks about her leap-before-you-look experience on the LoveMyArtJewelry blog. You can sample her class at CraftArtEdu. You’ll also find her on Facebook, Pinterest and her own site.

Staci has taught several popular classes on organic beads built on white clay. She takes the color and bling up a notch on this iteration and adds another variation to the crackle craze.

Beautiful ordinary

There’s a zen vibe to Elizabeth Wood’s Instagram pictures. Each square photo focuses on her daily polymer bead close up.

Her new blog is equally unusual, with no pictures (whaaa?) and brief, insightful posts.

She explains her approach by saying that her work “…utilizes everyday materials like polymer, paint, thread, and base metals to remind us that beautiful lives are usually made up of ordinary things.”

This is all part of Elizabeth’s 365 Project that she started in January. Her goal is to get better at noticing the beautiful ordinary in life, to loosen up her work methods, and to explore bead making in a more in-depth way.

Take a deep breath, smile and enjoy your beautiful weekend.

Thimbles of color

These Thimble Beads from Florida’s Patrice Pfeiffer are her swap items for the upcoming Fandango gathering in Orlando.

But don’t they look best in a grouping like this? The deep textures, rich colors and wonky cone shapes work so well together that it’s a shame to break up the set. Isn’t that the way? We grumble about making swap items and end up loving them only to send them off to new homes. Remember to make yourself a few extras next time.

Patrice is on Flickr, Facebook and Pinterest.

Making five easy pieces

Page McNall added a free 2-page photo tutorial on Flickr for her segmented polymer bead necklaces last month. Now that the holiday hubbub is over, let’s give her instructions a whirl. She shows how on page 1 and page 2.

She blends color gradients into short thick plugs which she threads onto on a knitting needle. She nurses and shapes the plug, removes it from the needle and cuts it into five segments. She gently refines the shape of the cut pieces and places them back on the needle to bake.

After they’re baked Page distresses the beads and adds color accents with shoe polish. Mounted onto short lengths of wire, the segmented beads are then arranged into necklaces. Her pictures make it all quite clear. Follow Page on Facebook and see her influences on Pinterest. (PCD follower Patrice Pfeiffer thought you’d want to see this and I agreed.)

Off-balance polymer

Kansas’ Carol Beal (BeadUnsupervised) must have quite a stash of favorite beads that she dips into, mixing and matching until she gets her eclectic, slightly unbalanced look. Rummaging through her Pinterest boards lets you in on how her brain works and it’s a hoot.

Carol was an illustrator and greeting card designer for Hallmark before she jumped into the jewelry business. Her happy mix of materials and designs that please her is what most of us aspire to. It looks like she’s having fun. Catch more in her Etsy shop.

Transferred history

Since you may have some playtime this weekend, I’ll leave you with the UK’s Jon Burgess. His sites are mecca for those who like abstract, geometric, random, organic or fractal-based patterns.

Jon’s been a longtime writer, illustrator and designer. “I have been exploring the backwaters of the various bits of software I use for many years now but have only recently found practical outlets for the designs I produce,” he explains.

Of course polymer is one of the practical outlets he hit upon. His tiles, coasters and beads often contain his image transfers whose hard digital lines have been softened with elegant, distressed edges and thin washes of ink.

Sure, the 1-2-3 polymer transfer steps he shows are straightforward. When he gets to step 12, the fun begins. From this almost-a-tutorial you get the idea of how he batters his pieces to inject them with history and intrigue.

Start on his Pinterest site to understand his aesthetic. Try Tumblr, his blog, Flickr, Etsy and Facebook. Then luxuriate in the patterns.

Stories in polymer

Germany’s Eva Thissen tells enchanting stories with the littlest bits of polymer. This Story of a Little Girl series is told on beautifully muted base beads.

Eva uses the same colors for the girl’s dresses with miniscule contrasting bits scattered in the background as raindrops or flowers.

For the process, her only tools are her hands and a needle. When Eva first started, she painted on polymer but found that she preferred the dimension that applique provided.

The charming group of girls makes a great header on her Etsy site where she sells these and her more densely flowered garden compositions. Her gentle touches of color may make you sigh with pleasure. Enjoy them in detail on Flickr.

Polymer revealed

Margit Bohmer’s Carved Beads may prompt you to rummage through your nail tools for your old cuticle trimmer. These bright colors are revealed by shallow slices carved off the extruded strings which have been wound around base beads.

Margit’s fond of rainbow colors which look even more dramatic when exposed against the black exterior of the strings. She sometimes goes a step further, smoothing and sanding the carving to achieve a more shibori-like look. See how she manipulates color by slicing and sanding on Facebook and Flickr.

Wedgwood imitations

Heather Powers’ Wedgwood Pottery-inspired beads contain promises of a new season. Her imitative Jasperware beads feature raised white relief sculpture on matte backgrounds in spring colors. Here the Wedgwood beads are paired with leafy designs and topped by birds.

Heather is one busy blogger! Tonight she presents her tips for Promoting Your Jewelry Business Online to the Baltimore Bead Society. She’s gathered her source material, over 300 articles for artists/sellers, into one hugely helpful Creative Biz Pinterest board.

She operates multiple shops and teaches on cruises, workshops, bootcamps and retreats. She writes books. She blogs and connects like crazy. Go marvel at her talents and don’t miss her free jewelry tutorials!

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